94 escort wagon tranny?

Bought the car as a work car. I noticed hesitation whenever I would put it in gear. We changed tranny filter and fluid and for a couple months it ran great. Well recently it started hesitating but is getting really bad. Put it in gear and it just won't go, reverse is usually worse then forward. If I am able to get it going and drive it for like 5 mins, runs great, sometimes with just a minor slip here and there, overdrive works well too. Any suggestions ? Again its a 94' 1.8 L 4 banger. Great running car too